Philippine Criminal Law

Philippine criminal law
History
The Philippines was a colony of Spain for 333 years, beginning in 1565 until 1898. Because of
this, many fields of law in the Philippines such as Civil Law and Criminal Law follow a civil law
tradition, as opposed to Commercial Law and Constitutional Law which follow a common law
tradition.
When the Spanish Colonizers conquered the Philippines, the Spanish Codigo Penal was made
applicable and extended to the Philippines by Royal Decree of 1870. This was replaced with the
old Penal Code which was put in place by Spanish authorities, and took effect in the Philippines
on July 14, 1876. This law was effective in the Philippines until the American colonization of the
Philippines. It was only on December 8, 1930, when it was amended, under Act. No. 3815, with
the enactment of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines (the Revised Penal Code).
The Revised Penal Code

Main article: Revised Penal Code of the Philippines
The Revised Penal Code took effect on January 1, 1932. It is composed of two parts Book One
of the Revised Penal Code provides the general provisions on the application of the law, and the
general principles of criminal law. It defines felonies and circumstances which affect criminal
liability, justifying circumstances and circumstances which exempt, mitigate or aggravate
criminal liability, and defines the classification, duration, and effects of criminal penalties.
Finally, it provides for the extinction and survival of criminal and civil liabilities in crimes.
Book Two of the Revised Penal Code on the other hand defines the specific crimes and the
penalties imposable for each crime. Crimes are classified into crimes against national security
(such as treason, espionage and piracy), crimes against the fundamental laws of the state
(rebellion, coup detat, sedition and public disorders), crimes against public interest
(counterfeiting of currency, falsification of public documents), crimes against public morals,
crimes committed by public officers, crimes against persons (parricide, murder, physical injuries,
rape), crimes against security (kidnapping), and crimes against property (robbery, theft), among
others. Criminal negligence is also an offense under the Revised Penal Code. Under the Revised
Penal Code, acts and omissions punishable by law are called felonies. Thus, to be considered as a
felony there must be an act or omission.
Degree of Consummation of Crimes

Felonies can be consummated, frustrated, and attempted. A felony is consummated when all the
elements necessary for its execution and accomplishment are present. It is frustrated when the
offender performs all the acts of execution which would produce the felony as a consequence but
which, nevertheless, do not produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the
perpetrator. There is an attempt when the offender commences the commission of a felony
directly or overt acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce the
felony by reason of some cause or accident other than his own spontaneous desistance.
Conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission
of a felony and decide to commit it. Conspiracy can also be proven based on the idea of "unity of
purpose" and acts leading to a common design. There is proposal when the person who has
decided to commit a felony proposes its execution to some other person or persons. Conspiracy
and proposal to commit a felony are generally not punishable, except for conspiracy and
proposal to commit treason, coup dEtat, and rebellion. Whilst not generally punishable,
conspiracy can determine the degree of participation in criminal offenses in order to determine
criminal liability.
Circumstances that Affect Criminal Liability

The presence of certain circumstances have the effect of removing, mitigating or aggravating
criminal liability of persons. Persons who commit crimes when justifying circumstances are
present do not incur criminal or civil liability. Acting in self-defense is one of these justifying
circumstances.
The presence of exempting circumstances on the other hand will exempt the perpetrator from
criminal liability but not from civil liability. Some of these exempting circumstances are
imbecility or youth. On the other hand, the presence of one or more mitigating circumstances
when a crime is committed, can serve to reduce the penalty imposed. An example is voluntary
surrender.
Lastly, the presence of aggravating circumstances will increase the penalty imposed under the
crime, upon conviction. Some examples are contempt or insult to public authority.
Participation in Crimes
Under the Revised Penal Code, when more than one person participated in the commission of the
crime, the law looks into their participation because in punishing offenders, the Revised Penal
Code classifies them as principals, accomplices, or accessories. A persons can be liable as a
principal for (a) taking a direct part in the execution of the felony, (b) directly forcing or inducing
others to commit it, or (c) cooperate in the commission of the offense by another act without
which it would not have been accomplished. Accomplices are persons who, while not acting as a
principal, cooperate in the execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts.
Lastly, accessories are those who, having knowledge of the commission of the crime, and
without having participated therein, either as principals or accomplices, take part subsequent to
its commission by: (a) profiting themselves or assisting the offender to profit by the effects of the
crime, (b) concealing or destroying the body of the crime, or the effects or instruments thereof, in
order to prevent its discovery, or (c) harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the
principals of the crime.
Principals are punished more severely than accomplices, who are punished more severely than
accessories. However, when there is conspiracy, there will no longer be a distinction as to
whether a person acted as a principal, accomplice or accessory, because when there is conspiracy,
the criminal liability of all will be the same, because the act of one is the act of all.
Murder
Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code defines murder as killing someone other than a family
member[1] with any of the following six circumstances:
1. With treachery [see below], taking advantage of superior strength, with the
aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense, or of means
or persons to insure or afford impunity;
2. In consideration of a price, reward, or promise;
3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a

vessel, derailment or assault upon a railroad, fall of an airship, by means of
motor vehicles, or with the use of any other means involving great waste and
ruin;
4. On occasion of any calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of

an earthquake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic, or any
other public calamity;
5. With evident premeditation;
6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the

victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corps. [2]
Murder is punishable by reclusin perpetua (20 to 40 years' incarceration).[2] Without any of

these six aggravating circumstances, a killing is instead homicide punishable by reclusin
temporal.[2] A murder is committed with treachery by
employing means, methods, or forms in the execution, which tend directly and specially to insure
its execution, without risk to the offender arising from the defense which the offended party
might make. The essence of treachery is that the attack comes without a warning and in a swift,
deliberate, and unexpected manner, affording the hapless, unarmed, and unsuspecting victim no
chance to resist or escape. For treachery to be considered, two elements must concur: (1) the
employment of means of execution that gives the persons attacked no opportunity to defend
themselves or retaliate; and (2) the means of execution were deliberately or consciously adopted.
[3]
Special Penal Laws

Apart from the crimes penalized in the Revised Penal Code, several other pieces of criminal
legislation have been passed, penalizing acts such as illegal possession and trafficking of
dangerous drugs, money laundering, and illegal possession of firearms. These laws are called
Special Penal Laws and they form part of Philippine Criminal Laws. There are certain
differences between crimes punished under the Revised Penal Code and Special Penal Laws.
Violations of the crimes listed in the Revised Penal Code are referred to as mala in se, which
literally means, that the act is inherently evil or bad or wrongful in itself. On the other hand,
violations of Special Penal Laws are generally referred to as malum prohibitum or an act that is
wrong because it is prohibited. Thus, no criminal intent is needed in order to find a person liable
for crimes punished under Special Penal Laws. As long as the act is committed, then it is
punishable as a crime under law.
Note, however, that not all violations of Special Penal Laws are mala prohibita. While intentional
felonies are always mala in se, it does not follow that prohibited acts done in violation of special
laws are always mala prohibita.
There are some important distinctions between crimes punishable under the Revised Penal Code
and Special Penal Laws. One of them is that in crimes punished under the Revised Penal Code,
the moral trait of the offender is considered. This is why liability would only arise when there is
criminal intent or negligence in the commission of the punishable act. In crimes punished under
Special Penal Laws, the moral trait of the offender is not considered; it is enough that the
prohibited act was voluntarily done.

Philippine Criminal Law

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Philippine criminal law

The Revised Penal Code

Degree of Consummation of Crimes

Circumstances that Affect Criminal Liability

2. In consideration of a price, reward, or promise;

3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a

4. On occasion of any calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of

5. With evident premeditation;

6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the

Murder is punishable by reclusin perpetua (20 to 40 years' incarceration).[2] Without any of

Special Penal Laws

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